To think it’s crazy that National Minimum wage is £27k

Well apparently it was a joke that we should all have got instantly but I still can't see the reference.

To me it looks like someone who is clueless with a DH who's income is 'tax efficient'.

Clearly they're not living comfortably on £20k pa even if they're mortgage free so either the rest of his income is going through a limited company, as could a lot of their personal expenses eg 'company' cars, it could also be the case that poster is employed by the business to do the admin work that backs up his trade.

Or its out and out tax evasion which she'll be colliding with by paying for things like groceries, petrol etc in cash.

Sounded odd to me as well

I cannot imagine being able to afford to retire
Recently took on a new PT job which I can do till I’m 75, that will hopefully give me enough to live on with state pension and tiny private pension
75+ I will have to downsize or leave the country

@MyFairLady27 and everyone else who wants us to believe they get by on 20K and other low sums can you please give a monthly breakdown?

20K is about 1400pcm I think.

Many people have at least £900 to pay in rent or mortgage - so that’s at least 2/3 of their salary gone instantly.

Pay your council tax, mobile phone/broadband, energy and water bills, insurance, travel and the rest of that money is gone even before they’ve even got their food or personal items

Again people making these claims are leaving out important information like they live in a house they don’t pay mortgage or rent on. It’s so deliberately misleading.

This one is just what her self employed husband is declaring to HMRC, not how much he actually receives.

20k between you? And no UC top up?

Do you claim UC though?

Yes, it’s not a nice thing to have to say is it.

This is a disgraceful thing to say. The previous poster made a more than reasonable comment and you respond with an ageist, spiteful statement like this.

That entirely depends on your location. In my area, unemployment went through the roof in the 80s as people were made redundant from the factories, docks and shipyards, and things didn’t begin to pick up until the early 2000s when the last Labour government created jobs here, and there was a lot of EU funded regeneration happening.

The other poster is correct and has been extremely patient with you. Why don't you look at the link that was posted.

Let's be honest Blossom. It has got much worse.
The number of homeless families is at record highs. An industry has grown in food banks.

You don't know the people I am referring to! One or two had part time jobs at 16, like many teenagers today, but the ones I know were studying, not working full time at 16. They also did not receive family help.
Please stop making things up.
Back in the 70s, most couples, even many single people, were able to marry if they chose, buy a home and start a family by 25 or so. That is clearly very far from being the case now.

@FlyingCatGirl you were lucky as the nineties were the easiest decade. The country was in a big economic boom.

Civil service and NHS still have jobs for life.

Oh for goodness sake! For a start I see you've failed to answer the question of where all these jobs for life are? In my region the industries that offered jobs for life such as steelworks and oil refineries are going bust hand over fist! I get news alerts to my phone everyday of all manner of companies in the UK going bust!

And as for saying anyone younger than you deserves a shit life! That's a disgraceful thing to say and wish for! Older generations did have some things easier! You weren't taxed as hard and as crushed by the cost of living as people are now, you didn't have it as tough trying to get a first home as people do now! I didn't have it as tough as people do now as an 18 year old getting my first mortgage in 1998.
For those families that want kids, a lot are turned off the idea because they can't afford for mum to not have a full time job, your generation never had to juggle that! If you wanted to be a stay at home mother you could afford to!

Minimum wage in the north is £12.72 ph that does not work out at £27000pa, even at 40hrs a week

Not all pensioners are rolling in it, just the ones the wealthier mumsnetters know I think! At 77 I do need to retire properly but can't face my income dropping to less than half when I do.

Not everyone on benefits rents. Some areas don't have discounted CT, and if they do it is only up to a certain amount. Not everyone needs regular medications (and some people don't pay due anyway due to certain health conditions... and anyone can get the £10pm prepayment thing), NHS dentists are rare as hen's teeth so even people on UC are having to go private.
What low rates for utilities? My electric and gas costs the same as everyone else. My water supplier offers capped rates, but I don't use anywhere near the cap anyway.

We live in £3200 a month for a family of 4. £1500 of that is rent (we live in the south), but we make savings everywhere. We have just one streaming service at any one time and swap it out when there’s a series on that we want to watch - Amazon always gets December so we can take advantage of prime shipping for Christmas.
We buy clothes on vinted and charity shops. We sell the kids old clothes on vinted to make back some of the money. If we want a new computer game, we sell an old one to CEX and use the credit to buy a new one second hand. Our car is 8 years old and all paid off. We don’t eat takeaways, we take packed lunches for days out, we look for vouchers/discounts for museums (we always use the free NT vouchers every summer). We meal plan and batch cook to save on food. I cut everyone’s hair (including my own), we buy toys and books second hand. We use the library a lot. Nobody is sad, nobody is missing out (in fact one of our biggest expenses is the kids theatre school and dance classes every month).
It’s definitely possible to live on less if you avoid lots of the expectations of modern life.

Even when you add up all the free rent , council tax , prescriptions, dentists , food banks, special low rate utilities etc etc !!
I can’t even afford a dentist and I desperately need a filling - but I will have to go private as no nhs dentists - such basics should not be unaffordable to some one who works full time !

Funny this should pop up today. I was just thinking today about how my kids' generation doesn't stand a chance. My first house cost 50k in 1992 with a salary of 14k, deposit 9k, mortgage 41k, so just under 3 x salary. It was a proper 3 bed semi (classic bsy window, bix room above front door, one reception large kitchen diner) with a garage and 110ft garden, in Reading. Today there's an identical house on the very same road on Rightmove for 400k. So no, the living wage is nowhere near enough. As others have said, it's house prices that have ruined it. Its criminal imo. A young adult today would need a salary of over 130k to afford it at the same multiplying factor.

I was paid £27k in 2015.I'd need to earn around 35k today to earn the same.

So no, it's not crazy at all. Inflation, cost of living crisis and wage stagnation are skewing your perspective.

This ⬆️. My wife and live on a combined net income of approx 27K per year . Also live in the area, N.Wales and Merseyside,with the highest fuel costs in the whole of the UK ...sigh !

120k and "things are tight". Do you have a massive mortgage, private schools, cars on finance etc?